KNVB director Jean Paul Decossaux said in a statement that Blind was removed because of poor results under his leadership.

Blind said he believed the team was on the right path and that the Bulgaria defeat was "an incident."

"It's a shame it ends here," he added.

Blind took over from veteran Guus Hiddink in 2015, with a mission to kickstart the Dutch team's faltering European Championship qualification campaign. He failed and the Netherlands - World Cup semifinalists in Brazil in 2014 - did not qualify for the 2016 European Championship.